Why do nhs admin staff need the vaccine before teachers?

[BrutusMcDogface]

Just that.

I really want to understand why someone who works in an office, away from any patients (and doesn’t even have to go through any corridors that patients will have gone through) get through vaccine, when teachers/school staff don’t?

Of course I don’t begrudge nhs staff their vaccine; absolutely on the contrary. But why aren’t teachers/school staff somewhere on the priority list? Particularly those who are working with children with SEND; all vulnerable, many of whom need personal care.

Please help me to understand.

In my local hospital the “red” zone is completely separate from the rest of the hospital and I know of people working in the “green” bit in offices as opposed to on wards. That’s all I meant re: not going down corridors etc.

Anyway, I’ve acknowledged the reasons why admin staff are being vaccinated.

I am an AHP in the NHS and sue to my job the n patients I see can it wear masks and I am v close to them yet I have not had the vaccine yet secretaries who work in am admin area and never see a patient have.. No sense.

And if we get redeployed, we will have some immunity

Almost everything we have done in terms of restrictions has been about protecting the NHS, so it can in turn protect us. It makes perfect sense that when it’s on it’s knees, you would vaccinate every single member of staff to take staff isolation / illness out of the equation.

Due to snow last week and most of yorkshire coming to a halt, the vaccine centres had extra that would have gone to waste cos people could not get there luckily in West Yorkshire (not sure about the rest) they offered it firefighters police etc off shift who could get there so not wasted

Our trust vaccinated frontline staff and bame staff first and has now opened up the appointments to other nhs staff.

Totally agree but also think they should have prioritised people shielding too over a lot of the young, fit, nhs non covid facing workers as they have been stuck indoors for nearly a year now and have to wait whilst I know nhs workers who don’t give a monkeys and go out doing what they like turning it down.

I don't think NHS staff who WFH should get it just now.
I have a DS who WFH for the NHS, it would be bizarre for him to get it before his teacher sibling who is in constant close contact without PPE.

Why is anyone facing a class full of kids when schools are closed?

@yearnewwhatever

Whether anyone in NHS is working from home or not, we don't have the luxury of anyone not doing their job currently - we have no give, no slack, nothing left to keep hospitals going. We need every single member of staff doing everything in their job and more. That plus protecting the patients - that is why everyone in the NHS is being vaccinated.

I thought everyone wanted to get back to normal once the hospitals are not overwhelmed? It makes me quite sick that admin roles are being seen as so dispensable.

Exactly this.

There are very very few roles that are not needed right now (even if not frontline and even if WFH). Even fewer that haven't been redeployed. The resource needed to verify every individual's status would be immense and would slow down the whole process.

@CountessFrog

Why is anyone facing a class full of kids when schools are closed?

Sxhools aren't closed.

Some are reporting 70% in - that's potentially 20 plus kids in

It makes perfect sense that when it’s on it’s knees, you would vaccinate every single member of staff to take staff isolation / illness out of the equation

Do you not have to isolate if you’ve been vaccinated then?

Agree that police/teachers should be prioritised. I work admin and reception on a GP surgery. I'm face to face with patients often checking temperatures before they enter a site using the same corridors also. One positive case can shut the whole surgery down. Also many of us are working admin in the vaccination centres also coming into contact with far more patients, therefore most NHS staff have been offered a vaccination.

I thought the same as you at first OP, but in my local surgery it's been all hands on deck on vaccination days, so admin staff could well come in contact with members of the public then. They're helping in getting the vaccine rolled out quicker, so of course they should have the vaccine if available.

As an aside, I have no doubt that teachers have it rough through the pandemic. Would I want to do it? No.

But I am sick of the constant comparing of teachers and NHS workers. There is no correlation whatsoever. It’s not even apples and oranges, it’s bananas and avocados and just yet another stick to beat the NHS over the head with. It’s so unhelpful.

I have a friend and a relative who work for NHS.

Friend works in admin setting, no contact with patients, has been working from home since March and will continue to do so for foreseeable future - has received both doses of vaccination.

Relative - front line nurse, worked on Covid ward since beginning of pandemic, has had Covid early on - not even had first dose.

They work only miles apart and incidentally my 90 year old grandparents in same area haven’t had either of their doses either!

I would imagine that it makes sense for them to be done alongside their non admin colleagues, given that they will most certainly be in the same location. Logistically it would save time/they can be dealt with faster than teachers. Therefore they will also be helping to protect frontline colleagues whom they will need to liaise with. What's the problem and why the competition?

I was a bit miffed and taken aback to see on my whatsapp that breastfeeding support volunteers in a local NHS trust are getting it at the moment (which I did until I started a new job recently, hence the whatsapp group) who as far as I can tell are doing everything by zoom. Meanwhile in my proper job, working in the criminal courts and having to use public transport to get there, I have no priority whatsoever.

I hate the public perception that hospitals only need doctors and nurses. Admin staff is everyone who is non clinical so covers the chief exec, ward clerks and everyone else. My role is admin and I had three nurses and our medical director approach me to tell me I must get vaccinated as I work with every department and my role is vital but I’m sure friends outside my work will think why the fuck did dragons get vaccinated? Just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It’s like saying you’ll vaccinate all teachers but not the TAs.

Some will also be right place right time as we cannot waste the vaccine so if there’s no shows (we’ve has quite a lot) then we grab dh be nearest willing staff member.

Even admin might be on the front desk, interacting with patients.

@herecomesthsun

Also NHS clerical staff includes receptionists, and they deal with many many patients each face to face, they need to be vaccinated. Or else the service won't run.

School staff also are face to face (most often with no PPE) The Government have identified critical public services that need to continue running e.g. health / education / police/prisons - surely the staff working in these sectors should also be given critical worker priority for vaccination too?

Three out of four of our secretaries are either off sick or isolating these last two weeks. As a result, I had four patients turn up to a closed outpatient department on Friday, because nobody had rung them or sent letters out to tell them it was a telephone appointment. One woman was 84. All were ECV.

(And no, it isn’t usually the secretaries’ job to do that, but the outpatient booking team have been redeployed).

In the first wave, I was spending several hours of my resident night shifts, as a consultant, printing out appointment cancellation letters. That is a completely atrocious use of out of hours consultant time, when a band 2 administrator could do it easily.

We are crying out for more admin staff.

Because the point of the vaccine priority is to stop hospitals becoming overwhelmed so logically, the patient's most likely to need a hospital and the staff that work in them, patient facing or not they are all valuable. It still has the potential to overwhelm the hospital if all their admin staff are off sick etc...

And, at the moment, we still don't know if the vaccine actually stops transmission do we? Until we do, I don't really understand the argument for teachers being prioritised, if you can still potentially catch and pass on Covid whether you're vaccinated or not then why the need to prioritise ahead of vulnerable people?

surely the staff working in these sectors should also be given critical worker priority for vaccination too?

Unless the vaccine actually stops transmission then no, I don't see why they should.

The whole point right now is to stop hospitals becoming overwhelmed, not to stop people catching Covid. So right now the only logical way to do that is to vaccinate those most likely to need a hospital and the staff that work in them.